don't get it

[pryingtuna85649]

So this game is pretty cool and I like the artwork of the cards, but I'm swearing at the iPad because of it. I need help or ideas.

I've never been great at card games, to give some background. I understand the rules and know what I have to do, but the most I can come up with on why I never win is I have luck like a black cat walking under a ladder.

I've read the background info about building good decks, strategically choose cards to go in the decks, don't go over 50 in a deck, etc etc, and have spent a lot of time building decks in order to have better chances.

But I'm still having no luck. I'll play 10 matches in story mode and never win. Is the computer designed to keep you from winning in this game, even if it means pulling cards out of its deck that seem to blatantly be there only in order to keep a user from winning? I'm getting the impression that the computer is designed to make players think they won't win unless they buy credits with real money...basically a money making scheme. But at the same time I know I've truly never been good at this type of game.

I don't want to be a sore loser or getting frustrated for the wrong reasons. I'm trying to learn and understand this game, but I can't get past this appearance that the computer is designed to make players lose. And that's all I'm able to see right now...I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, and it's really making me angry and frustrated.

[Ringel]

I can promise that the computer doesn't cheat. Watching games to give pointers would be helpful here, sadly that isn't an option.

What level are you stuck on ?

[Raphael Majere]

Mar 19, 2012 23:32:27 GMT -5 pryingtuna85649 said:

So this game is pretty cool and I like the artwork of the cards, but I'm swearing at the iPad because of it. I need help or ideas.

I've never been great at card games, to give some background. I understand the rules and know what I have to do, but the most I can come up with on why I never win is I have luck like a black cat walking under a ladder.

I've read the background info about building good decks, strategically choose cards to go in the decks, don't go over 50 in a deck, etc etc, and have spent a lot of time building decks in order to have better chances.

But I'm still having no luck. I'll play 10 matches in story mode and never win. Is the computer designed to keep you from winning in this game, even if it means pulling cards out of its deck that seem to blatantly be there only in order to keep a user from winning? I'm getting the impression that the computer is designed to make players think they won't win unless they buy credits with real money...basically a money making scheme. But at the same time I know I've truly never been good at this type of game.

I don't want to be a sore loser or getting frustrated for the wrong reasons. I'm trying to learn and understand this game, but I can't get past this appearance that the computer is designed to make players lose. And that's all I'm able to see right now...I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, and it's really making me angry and frustrated.

Maybe you can post your deck list here and we can help with suggestions on what to add/remove.

[Pete]

No you can win most of the computer scenarios with first sequence. It's about timing: eg: don't play a site if it's daytime, over an agent card etc.

[ABXantos]

Why hello Pryingtuna. We meet again.

[pryingtuna85649]

Xantos! Yeah, I haven't been too happy with the state of ACR, so I've been pretty absent on the Ubi forums.

Thanks for the input everyone! Like I said, I'm not too good at card games...and as you all can probably tell, I honestly just REALLY REALLY suck, lol. I've been stuck on every level...I've never been able to breeze through any level and the only way I've gotten past any next level seems like it's after 10+ attempts. More like a random stroke of luck rather than actual ability, even though I am trying to think about how to do it. I don't understand what's wrong with playing a site at daytime/over an agent card, though. This isn't intuitive to me AT ALL, so simple things may need broken down to idiocy level.

I'll post my decks up later today for critique because I gotta run now, but thanks everyone!

[Ringel]

Some basic tips:

Blocking:
If you think your agent will die, but theirs will live, wait to block to the last moment, to keep their agent out of action as long as possible.

If you think their agent will die, but yours will live, block as soon as you can, to get your agent into action as quickly as possible.

Learned Hermeticist:
AFAIK, Learned Hermeticist is the starting sequence card most often misplayed by new players. When he returns a site to a hand, it restores to full influence. So, almost always, target your own 0 influence site.

Your second priority should be large undamaged opponent sites, especially those that are in site stacks (so the site will become weaker when replayed) but in this case play him during the second half of the turn, before the timer crosses over to the start. That way your opponent will lose at least one day of scoring.

NEVER target a 0 influence opposition site, unless it has special powers of some kind, and rarely then.

[Ringel]

Also, don't spend money unless you are sure you will enjoy the game. That's my philosophy. If you think you will only enjoy the game after you spend money, you probably wont.

[pryingtuna85649]

Ringel, thanks for the tips! Those really make sense, except I don't understand what you mean by large undamaged opponent sites. Do you mean like opposition sites that I have not once tried to score any points? Or a site the opposition fully controls? And what exactly is the second half of the turn? I'm sorry for the stupid questions. When I said these logic card games (and really any card game) aren't intuitive to me, it's more like you'd wonder how I'm able to tie my shoes in the morning. I didn't spend any money on the game...it was free when I downloaded it from iTunes (I thought it was always free, but it sounds like some people paid for it?) and I'm not yet planning on making any in-app purchases. I enjoy the game, but as I said I'm just frustrated. I've also always wanted to learn how to play these kinds of strategy games, but just haven't tried until now. I always tend to know/understand the basic rules, but the actual strategy part is always lacking. Like in chess, for example, I understand that pawns can move forward two squares (I know I'm using the wrong terms) on the first move and only one thereafter, that queens can move in any direction for any number of squares, that bishops can only move diagonally but for any number of squares, etc. But past that, I have no understanding/knowledge and no idea of how to create a strategy in order to actually win. Dunno if that makes sense, but basically I'm trying to learn to think more strategically.

In terms of the sequences, I thought about it more and realized I'm probably both not understanding the cards well and don't have a good grasp/understanding (or the experience...or the ability to foretell, too, I guess) of how a situation could play out if I used a certain card in a certain situation/at a certain time. I also don't think I understand how to put complementary cards together well.

But more specifically, I'm able to put up my decks now, hehe. Basically, I have the most Order cards, so I've created a few decks that combine one of the other orders each with Order cards. I have a Faith/Order deck, a Media/Order deck, etc. I'm not going to post each deck, because that would just be painful, but I'll post at least one so you all can get an idea. Also in the decks, I've cut them each down to 50 cards (or one or two more, but staying as close to 50 as possible) and have mostly tried to include at least one of each type of card with the exception of the ones that subtract from income or that I haven't had much/any luck with (which I'm sure is actually just me not using them correctly).

Here's my Scholar/Order deck as an example. I use this and my Order/Faith decks the most, because I have the most Order, Scholar, and Faith cards. And because I know these cards a bit better.

Gold Cards:
Plentiful Crop (1)
Coastal Watchtower (2)
Borgia Mine (2)
Mob Justice (3)
Market Street (1)
Old Peasant (1)

Order:
Teodor Viscari (1)
Militia Pikeman (2)
Gruesome Gallows (2)
Militia Patrolman (1)
Arquebusier (3)
Militia Training (2)
Untimely End (4)
Forced Inheritance (1)
Donato Mancini (3)
Beautiful Heiress (1)
Carlo Grimaldi (1)
Under Arrest (3)
Militia Barracks (2)
Il Carnefice (1)

Scholar:
Engineer Warrior (2)
Slow Study (1)
Learned Hermeticist (1)
Bitter Sweet (1)
Doctor (1)
Malfatto (1)
Field Study (1)
Ill-Intentioned Gift (1)
Academy of Physics (1)
Field Researcher (1)
Auguste Oberlin (3)

That's kinda how all of my decks are set up, which probably sounds like a disorganized mess to better players. I had to restore the iPad to a few days ago, so I have more cards that aren't in the decks anymore (it reset my decks, but thankfully not the cards I have). But here's a list of cards I have:

Gold:
Plentiful Crop (1)
Horse Merchant (1)
City Stables (2)
Tactical Upheaval (1)
Coastal Watchtower (4)
Follower of Romulus (2)
Borgia Mine (5)
Mob Justice (4)
Ercole Massimo (1)
Emilio Barbarigo (1)
Merchants Guild (1)
Rich Merchant (1)
Market Street (1)
Lair of Romulus (1)
Old Peasant (1)
The Spaniard (1)

Crime:
Paola (1)
Discreet Calling (1)
Low-Profile Assassination (1)
Lanz (1)
Villa Auditore (1)
Fabio Orsini (1)
Change of Plans (1)

Faith:
Basilica di San Pietro (2)
Obedient Priest (1)
Brother Ristoro (2)
Seeking Sanctuary (3)
Bitter Repentance (1)
Papal Guard (2)
Frari (1)
Pious Captain (1)
Venetian Church (1)
Basilica di San Marco (1)
Borgia Cardinal (1)
Juan Borgia the Elder (2)
Faithful Monk (1)
Basilica di Santa Maria Novella (1)
Pompous Preacher (2)

Media:
Dama Rossa (1)
Persistent Panhandler (1)
Rare Art Merchant (1)
Militant Militia (2)
Caterina Sforza (1)
A Call to Action (3)
For the Cause (1)
Role Reversal (1)
Micheletto Corella (1)
Legionnaire Thespian (1)
High-Stakes Negotiations (2)
Mass Movement (1)
Experienced City Guide (2)
Easy Come, Easy Go (1)
Patrizio (1)
Ospedale Degli Innocenti (2)
Man of the People (2)
Carnevale (1)

Order:
Teodor Viscardi (3)
Militia Pikeman (7)
Gruesome Gallows (6)
Faux Pas (1)
Militia Patrolman (1)
Arquebusier (6)
Militia Training (8)
Untimely End (5)
Forced Inheritance (2)
Egidio Troche (1)
Militia Regulars (1)
Donato Mancini (6)
Beautiful Heiress (2)
Carlo Grimaldi (2)
Militia Horseman (4)
Francesco Troche (1)
Under Arrest (4)
Militia Barracks (4)
Il Carnefice (1)

Scholar:
Engineer Warrior (5)
Ilario Lombardi (2)
Prestigious College (3)
Slow Study (1)
Learned Hermeticist (3)
Architect's Sanctum (2)
Palazzo Library (1)
Bitter Sweet (5)
Doctor (6)
Malfatto (3)
Gaspar de la Crox (1)
Benefactor's Villa (1)
Field Study (5)
Ill-Intentioned Gift (2)
Doctor's Order (1)
Behind Closed Doors (1)
Academy of Physic (1)
Field Researcher (1)
Auguste Oberlin (3)

Anyway, that's a lot, I know. I hope I gave a good enough picture of where I'm at. Oh! I forgot about the levels I've had a hard time on. I know I've said all of them, but some recent bad ones have been the Pisa challenge and I think Padova and Venezia. I just found out my challenges have been reset as well...dunno why my cards don't appear to have been reset also. Odd, but oh well I guess.

[Rob (Roebidoebi)]

Oh dear, women on board... You lost me at line two of your post

[Ringel]

By undamaged sites, I mean sites that haven't lost any influence yet, typically because you haven't played any site cards against them.

I can never keep track of day and night, but the first half of the turn to me is after the turn timer crosses the board and appears on the far left, until it crosses the middle of the board and you draw a card.

[pryingtuna85649]

Ringel, thanks for the explanation. I followed your advice when I played a bit earlier, and it definitely made a difference. I still got a ways to go, but you put me on the right track.

@roebidoedbi, I could give you some of my Adderall to help your attention span. I'd blame my ADHD before my gender.

[Diomedia]

I think roebidoebi was being sarcastic!(which is hard to pull off online) , welcome to the forums!

[pryingtuna85649]

Hehe, I know he was joking around! I was doing the same with my comment back...sorry if that didn't come across right! And I also know I write horribly long posts. Xantos can probably attest to that, lol.

And Ringel again, your advice was priceless! My problems may not be completely solved, but holy crap I'm already doing monumentally better!

[jefmajor]

I really think the best way to learn is by playing good decks by good players. 90% of the stuff I've learned has come from having my face bashed in by this or that tactic. I adapt it to myself and then go bash their face in. It's a nice cycle.

All I've got for advice is general but put forth in hopes of being helpful. If it isn't, shrug it off, you probably already know some or all of this stuff:

You often see people with decks consisting of mostly 5 sets of cards. That's all well and good but don't fuss too much with that idea. 4 is enough, and, 2 or 3 will do in a pinch. My best decks mostly have sets of 4's with sets of 2's. I rarely ever put only 1 of a kind of card in, though, as it won't come up enough for me to know if it's useful.

Don't try and cover everything or you'll never protect anything. If you're strong in one area, you're weak in another, and that's that. Even the best decks will lose to some not great decks if those not great decks are designed specifically to attack their weakness.

The biggest thing I can say I've learned about ACR and deck building is this:

When you play a new deck, before you go around picking it apart and rebuilding it, play it MANY times. I've had some great decks that worked well and then got a few monstrously bad hands and then rushed off and ruined them by trying to "plan" for bad luck. You can't! Bad luck is like death and taxes and all that.

Anyway hope to play you some time and bash your face in. And then later have my face bashed in. Cheers.